Stewart, a contract herdsman for Evercreech Park Farms Ltd, fractured two vertebrae in his neck and back, suffered nerve damage and was in intensive care for four days when he fell from an adjacent silage clamp whilst assisting lining the walls of a silage bay.
The HSE’s investigation into the incident of 16 May 2016 found the company did not have a risk assessment or safe system of work in place for working at height. The investigation also found it would have been reasonably practicable to carry out these tasks in other safer ways, such as by using a mobile elevating work platform.
Evercreech Park Farms Ltd of Shepton Mallet pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined £16,000 with costs of £3,467.07.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Annette Walker said: “This incident could so easily have been avoided by simply carrying out safe working practices.
“If a suitable safe system of work had been in place prior to the incident, the life changing injuries sustained by Mr Stewart could have been prevented.”
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